Toronto’s Images Festival celebrated its 25th year back on April 12-21 and gave out a bevy of awards, many with cash prizes, to several experimental film and video makes.

Images is unique among most experimental festivals in that a large portion of it is devoted to gallery installation pieces, many of which won awards including the top one, the Images Prize. This award, which is sponsored by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan went to media artist Gary Kibbins for his Girl Sitting on Blue Chair. And, best of all, if you’re in Toronto and missed this piece, you can still check it out Trinity Square Video until May 19.

The second top prize of the festival, the Deluxe Cinematic Vision Award also went to an installation piece, Joshua Bonnetta’s Strange Lines and Distances. (Unfortunately, this is no longer on display.)

On the more traditionally screened videos side of the fest, experimental video maker Jacqueline Goss took the Overkill Award for her recreation documentary The Observers (Watch Online) and Belgian filmmakers Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat won the Marian McMahon award for Printed Matter, among other winners.

Images also gave out awards to two student media artists, one to Emilie Serri for her film So Certain I Was, I Was a Horse and Sunjha Kim for her video [s].

The full list of award winners and prizes is below:

Images Prize
Sponsored by Atom Egoyan, this is the grand prize of the festival, awarded in recognition of the Best Canadian Media Artwork in the festival. The recipient receives a $1,000 cash prize.

Gary Kibbins (Kingston, Ontario) for his installation Girl Sitting on Blue Chair which is installed at Trinity Square Video (401 Richmond Street West, #376) and is on view until May 19, 2012.

Deluxe Cinematic Vision Award
This prize is sponsored by Deluxe and honours excellence and innovation in the visual realization of a work by a Canadian film or video artist. The recipient receives $2,500 worth of production services in the Toronto office donated by Deluxe.

Joshua Bonnetta (Ithaca, New York) for his installation Strange Lines and Distances which was installed at YYZ Artists’ Outlet.

On Screen Award
Presented and sponsored by the Images Festival, this award honours the strongest new international film or video in the festival. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Lav Diaz (the Philippines) for his film Florentina Hubaldo, CTE which screened on our closing day at Jackman Hall.

Honourable Mention to Ben Rivers (United Kingdom) for his film Two Years at Sea.

OCADU Off Screen Award
Sponsored by the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU), this award honours the strongest new Canadian or international installation or new media work in the festival. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Duncan Campbell (United Kingdom) for his installation Arbeit on view at Images at 204 (204 Spadina) until April 28.

Steam Whistle Homebrew Award
Presented by Steam Whistle Brewing, this award honours excellence and promise in a local artist. The recipient receives a $500 cash prize & Steam Whistle prize pack.

Kandis Friesen and Nahed Mansour (Montreal/Toronto) for their video Tape 158 : Document 2B.

Overkill Award
This award was established by the Images Festival in 2000 to honour former Executive Director Deirdre Logue, (1996 through 1999 festivals) and is presented annually to a film, video or installation artist whose work approaches extremes of incorrigibility through form and/or content and challenges our notions of edgy, experimental practice. Sponsored by an anonymous donor, the recipient receives a $500 cash prize.

Jacqueline Goss (New York) for her film The Observers. (Watch Online)

Marian McMahon Award
Sponsored by Akimbo Art Promotions with film stock support from Kodak Canada, this award is given to a woman filmmaker each year to honour strong work in autobiography, the complexity of “subject” and the spirit of Marian McMahon. The recipient is invited to attend the Independent Imaging filmmaking retreat, held every each June in Mount Forest, Ontario facilitated by Philip Hoffman.

Sirah Foighel Brutmann + Eitan Efrat (Belgium) for their film Printed Matter.

York University Award for Best Student Film
Presented and sponsored by York University’s Department of Film, the recipient receives a $300 cash award generously donated by the York University Department of Film and $250 worth of Super-8 to video transfer services from Frame Discreet. The recipient is determined by audience vote.

Emilie Serri (Concordia University) for her film So Certain I Was, I Was a Horse.

Vtape Award for Best Student Video
This longstanding award is presented by Vtape, Toronto’s video art distributor and includes a $300 cash prize generously donated by Vtape.

Sunjha Kim (Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany), for her video [s].

Tom Berner Award
This award, sponsored by LIFT, (The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto) commemorates the late Tom Berner, who for many years supported and nurtured Canadian filmmakers. The award is presented annually to an individual who has provided extraordinary support to the cause of independent filmmaking in Toronto: The 2012 Tom Berner Award goes to Milada Kovacova.

2012 JURY AWARDS

Our jury felt so strongly about two projects that they added two awards to recognize these contributions to the 25th Images Festival:

Supportive Space Award
This award is presented to Gendai Workstation.

2012 Jury Prize
This award is presented to Adam Gutch + Chu-li Shewring (United Kingdom) for their video Hoof, Tooth and Claw.